Re: [MacPerl] Coding style

["Raffael Cavallaro" <raffael@mediaone.net>]

>From: Chris Nandor <pudge@pobox.com>

> Well, not necessarily in Perl.  Side effects are kinda part of Perl.

Side effects are part of most languages, (except for strict functional
languages). They're considered bad style when the code doesn't make it clear
that, in addition to what it appears to be doing here, it's also causing
some side effect elsewhere. Avoiding this sort of thing would come under the
heading of "the principle of least surprise."

Sometimes this is unavoidable, and sometimes, as you pointed out, in a
language like Perl,designed to take advantage of side effects, it's
desirable. It can make code difficult to follow, however, so it's a good
idea to give a heads-up in a comment if the side effect is particularly out
of left field.

Raf

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